Our team is trailing two trucks with cattle over 1.500 km, from the Smolensk area via Moscow to Samara, in the Southeast of Russia. The goal is to observe the compliance with EU Regulation No. 1/2005 concerning the required resting and feeding intervalls.

The traffic along the route is insane and so are the drivers of the trucks we are following.…

Only one truck with animals crosses the Turkish border today. It is loaded with young bulls from Romania. They are unloaded at a nearby stable to be watered and fed for a few hours. The animals are very thirsty and immediately start fighting for access to the water trough.

In the late afternoon, our team crosses the border in order to check if…

The weather forecast predicts temperatures of 39°C at the Turkish border for today. This is the first day since we started observing this border in 2010 that we do not see any animal trucks crossing the border. We are satisfied that finally our minimum demand that no animals are transported in hot weather is fulfilled, at least for today.

Our team starts to inspect animal trucks from the EU entering Turkey at the border of Kapikule. Close to the border crossing, we see young bulls with Austrian ear tags in a private stable. For one day, they have been stuck inside the border and for another one at this stable due to problems with their documents. Six other trucks with Austrian…

Whilst inspecting the market in Bodzentyn we notice two cows with overgrown hooves. Many animals are not sold and are going back to the farms because of the low price for bovines. The market gets empty before 8 AM. The situation is similar in Lagow. Here as well, the trade ends very early. It looks like animal markets in Poland might be about to…

First, we return to a farm in Zlotniki to implement our idea which will allow the dog to run around freely the narrow yard. We install a metal wire that goes from one side of the yard to the fence at the other end. Then, we attach a lightweight chain to this wire which allows dog to run without risk of escaping through the poor-quality fence. The…

Today, our team receives information from the Ministry of Agriculture in Hungary that animal transports from and through Hungary to Turkey will be banned from 21st of June on in case of extreme summer heat along the route to Turkey.

This is a great success of our work during the last years, where we informed Ministries about the tremendous…

The number of horses at the Bodzentyn market remains quite constant around 20 animals. As usual, most of the horses are bought by an Italian trader. We do not see any injured or sick animals. However, some mares have slightly overgrown hooves.

On the cattle market we see a lot of veterinary inspectors including regional veterinary officers and…

This month, our Farm Animal Service (FAS) farriers are called twice to treat lame cattle. First, they visit a farm in Krajno where a young bull has problems with walking. His front leg is deformed which causes abnormal hoof growth. We trim his claws in a way that helps to restore his balance. Then, we go to Grabkow to see another lame animal. Here,…